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Part eight of milking my friend famous YouTuber Blobbygobster ’s birthday for content is his other Italian Unification OC, Remu Passerini (or Romolo, Brandon can choose what design works better for which brother). As I went over with the other sheet, Remu is the twin brother of Romolo, and one is destined to slay the other, though the details are still a little hazy. I'll be telling a slightly different story here than I did for Romolo, based on how I'd write it if Brandon wanted to make the other brother the more sympathetic one. I do honestly think this time period lends itself well to being told two very different ways depending on your perspective, so let's get into it.

This version of the story starts out more or less the same. It's 1848 in Palermo, the most prominent city in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ever since the fall of Napoleon, the Templars have oppressed the kingdom through their puppets in the Bourbon Dynasty with no checks on royal power, helped along by the Sword of Eden Excalibur which Richard the Lionheart had passed down to King Tancred 800 years ago. The Passerini brothers get their start by taking up arms in the rebellion against King Ferdinand II, and their success attracts the attention of the Assassin Brotherhood. They have a plan to liberate Sicily by securing allies in the north, which appeals to Romolo, but Remu is confused. He sees little in what fighting Austrians has to do with liberating Sicily, but he trusts his brother, and agrees to go along. While helping King Charles Albert liberate Milan and Venice is good and all, there's clearly no concrete plan to march south just yet.

Remu is anxious to get back to the groundwork, and he finds sympathetic allies with rebel leaders Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, recently returned from exile. They point Remu in the direction of Pellegrino Rossi, minister to Pope Pius IX and Templar agent. Remu is more than happy to remove this blight and establish a base of operations in Rome like the Assassins of the Renaissance. Mazzini establishes a new Roman Republic, an idealized microcosm of what the Assassins could strive for. However, Romolo is not so pleased with this little side mission. His brother's short sighted actions have brought the wrath of France down upon Rome and given the Austrians under Joseph Radetzky the opportunity to retake all of their holdings in the north. Remu is apologetic, he knew he had a bit of a temper, but he never wanted harm to come to Italy. Romolo is not as forgiving as he could be.

The brothers go their separate ways for a while, Romolo to Piedmont, Remu to San Marino. There, he regroups with the exiled Garibaldi and tries to make up for his mistake by tracking down Joseph Radetzky. The Austrian commander finally meets Remu's blade in 1858, and Remu is surprised when his brother has come to congratulate him personally. In fact, he's come to reconcile with his brother and announce that he actually now has a plan for liberating their home in Sicily! Remu is taken a bit aback by the sudden change in heart, but hey gift horses and all that! This is where I think the issue I had with the Orsini Affair in the previous blurb actually kind of evaporates. Perhaps if Romolo is complacent in the conspiracy to intentionally scare Napoleon III into supporting the Unification of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia, and Remu finds out that the conspiracy had the consent of the Templars, that could be a major point of schism in his trust for his brother.

Regardless, the French abandon the Italians after unfavorable concessions to Austria in 1859. Remu is horrified, this wasn't the plan. He has to act fast. He reunites with Garibaldi in 1860 and together they rally a volunteer force of 1000 men to march into Sicily themselves and overthrow the Bourbons. The raid is successful, and Remu even rips Excalibur from the hands of Ferdinand’s inexperienced son Francis II, placing it in the care of Garibaldi. Romolo sends word of his disapproval to Remu, though, writing that he's risking everything on a dream again. Remu is determined that it isn't a dream though, and marches northward to invade the Papal States. However, Garibaldi's army is intercepted by Victor Emmanuel's at Taeno, and Romolo is accompanying the king alongside the Count of Cavour, orchestrator of the situation up north. Remu doesn't understand, until the Sardinian king threatens Garibaldi to stand down and hand over Excalibur to the one true king of Italy. That's when the horrible realization dawns on Remu: the king and his men are Templars, and this was their conspiracy all along. Romolo had abandoned liberty in exchange for a peaceful and orderly Italy. There's no realistic way for Garibaldi's regiment to stand up against the king's army. He hands over Excalibur without a fight, and Remu is forced to flee back south into exile.

The Templars find him there, though. In the vacuum left behind by the Bourbons, they've set up a slew of powerful extortionists who control the populace through fear and bribery, the beginnings of the Sicilian Mafia. Power by any other name is just as corrupt. And with the Sword of Eden in their control, nobody is able to say no to the new king. Remu is left with no choice: he must retrieve Excalibur at any cost. That cost ends up being his brother who tries to stop him, to persuade him that a unified Italy can only be maintained by the hand of a single powerful man. Remu resists the lies, kills his brother, reclaims the Sword, and is left alone back at square one, wondering how to unravel the enormous spider web that the Templars have trapped him and the citizens of Italy in…

Design notes, I leaned a lot more into the whole "redshirt” thing that Garibaldi's army had going on. I could've just slapped a hood on one of those uniforms and called it a day, but that's too simplistic for my tastes. Instead, I took inspiration from the traditional costumes of both Sardinia and Sicily and extrapolated from there. I think the belt area is the only thing that's bugging me. I'm not too happy with the composition around his waist, but I also wasn't really sure how best to fix it. Maybe I just threw in too much gold and it's getting in the way of the black sash, idk. I also just slapped Ezio's right-hand bracer on his arm because I kinda got stuck after designing so many other 19th century gauntlets Other than that, I'm really happy with the rest of it. That vest came out looking handsome as fuck, and the man looks a lot less like a spaghetti chef than his brother, which I think is worth at least a few brownie points.

Description
Part eight of milking my friend famous YouTuber Blobbygobster ’s birthday for content is his other Italian Unification OC, Remu Passerini (or Romolo, Brandon can choose what design works better for which brother). As I went over with the other sheet, Remu is the twin brother of Romolo, and one is destined to slay the other, though the details are still a little hazy. I'll be telling a slightly different story here than I did for Romolo, based on how I'd write it if Brandon wanted to make the other brother the more sympathetic one. I do honestly think this time period lends itself well to being told two very different ways depending on your perspective, so let's get into it.

This version of the story starts out more or less the same. It's 1848 in Palermo, the most prominent city in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ever since the fall of Napoleon, the Templars have oppressed the kingdom through their puppets in the Bourbon Dynasty with no checks on royal power, helped along by the Sword of Eden Excalibur which Richard the Lionheart had passed down to King Tancred 800 years ago. The Passerini brothers get their start by taking up arms in the rebellion against King Ferdinand II, and their success attracts the attention of the Assassin Brotherhood. They have a plan to liberate Sicily by securing allies in the north, which appeals to Romolo, but Remu is confused. He sees little in what fighting Austrians has to do with liberating Sicily, but he trusts his brother, and agrees to go along. While helping King Charles Albert liberate Milan and Venice is good and all, there's clearly no concrete plan to march south just yet.

Remu is anxious to get back to the groundwork, and he finds sympathetic allies with rebel leaders Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, recently returned from exile. They point Remu in the direction of Pellegrino Rossi, minister to Pope Pius IX and Templar agent. Remu is more than happy to remove this blight and establish a base of operations in Rome like the Assassins of the Renaissance. Mazzini establishes a new Roman Republic, an idealized microcosm of what the Assassins could strive for. However, Romolo is not so pleased with this little side mission. His brother's short sighted actions have brought the wrath of France down upon Rome and given the Austrians under Joseph Radetzky the opportunity to retake all of their holdings in the north. Remu is apologetic, he knew he had a bit of a temper, but he never wanted harm to come to Italy. Romolo is not as forgiving as he could be.

The brothers go their separate ways for a while, Romolo to Piedmont, Remu to San Marino. There, he regroups with the exiled Garibaldi and tries to make up for his mistake by tracking down Joseph Radetzky. The Austrian commander finally meets Remu's blade in 1858, and Remu is surprised when his brother has come to congratulate him personally. In fact, he's come to reconcile with his brother and announce that he actually now has a plan for liberating their home in Sicily! Remu is taken a bit aback by the sudden change in heart, but hey gift horses and all that! This is where I think the issue I had with the Orsini Affair in the previous blurb actually kind of evaporates. Perhaps if Romolo is complacent in the conspiracy to intentionally scare Napoleon III into supporting the Unification of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia, and Remu finds out that the conspiracy had the consent of the Templars, that could be a major point of schism in his trust for his brother.

Regardless, the French abandon the Italians after unfavorable concessions to Austria in 1859. Remu is horrified, this wasn't the plan. He has to act fast. He reunites with Garibaldi in 1860 and together they rally a volunteer force of 1000 men to march into Sicily themselves and overthrow the Bourbons. The raid is successful, and Remu even rips Excalibur from the hands of Ferdinand’s inexperienced son Francis II, placing it in the care of Garibaldi. Romolo sends word of his disapproval to Remu, though, writing that he's risking everything on a dream again. Remu is determined that it isn't a dream though, and marches northward to invade the Papal States. However, Garibaldi's army is intercepted by Victor Emmanuel's at Taeno, and Romolo is accompanying the king alongside the Count of Cavour, orchestrator of the situation up north. Remu doesn't understand, until the Sardinian king threatens Garibaldi to stand down and hand over Excalibur to the one true king of Italy. That's when the horrible realization dawns on Remu: the king and his men are Templars, and this was their conspiracy all along. Romolo had abandoned liberty in exchange for a peaceful and orderly Italy. There's no realistic way for Garibaldi's regiment to stand up against the king's army. He hands over Excalibur without a fight, and Remu is forced to flee back south into exile.

The Templars find him there, though. In the vacuum left behind by the Bourbons, they've set up a slew of powerful extortionists who control the populace through fear and bribery, the beginnings of the Sicilian Mafia. Power by any other name is just as corrupt. And with the Sword of Eden in their control, nobody is able to say no to the new king. Remu is left with no choice: he must retrieve Excalibur at any cost. That cost ends up being his brother who tries to stop him, to persuade him that a unified Italy can only be maintained by the hand of a single powerful man. Remu resists the lies, kills his brother, reclaims the Sword, and is left alone back at square one, wondering how to unravel the enormous spider web that the Templars have trapped him and the citizens of Italy in…

Design notes, I leaned a lot more into the whole "redshirt” thing that Garibaldi's army had going on. I could've just slapped a hood on one of those uniforms and called it a day, but that's too simplistic for my tastes. Instead, I took inspiration from the traditional costumes of both Sardinia and Sicily and extrapolated from there. I think the belt area is the only thing that's bugging me. I'm not too happy with the composition around his waist, but I also wasn't really sure how best to fix it. Maybe I just threw in too much gold and it's getting in the way of the black sash, idk. I also just slapped Ezio's right-hand bracer on his arm because I kinda got stuck after designing so many other 19th century gauntlets Other than that, I'm really happy with the rest of it. That vest came out looking handsome as fuck, and the man looks a lot less like a spaghetti chef than his brother, which I think is worth at least a few brownie points.